MALTA: Penny-Wise

In an age of never-ending colonial demands for
independence, few things have so touched and intrigued Britons as the
political yearning of Malta, the rocky little Mediterranean isle whose
320,000 inhabitants earned a collective George Cross for heroism under
Axis air assault during World War II. Instead of independence, the
Maltese under the leadership of fiery, 41-year-old Prime Minister Dom
(for Dominic) Mintoff have asked for complete integration into the
United Kingdom and the right to send three M.P.s to Britain's House of
Commons in London.

But Mintoff and his compatriots are unpredictable folk. Just how
unpredictable the British learned...